“Beyond the Gin and Tonic”: Ciao Bello brunch cocktails featured in Buzz magazine

by llmazzini on October 3, 2016

In case you missed it, Ciao Bello’s brunch cocktails were featured this month in Buzz magazine by one of our city’s leading food writers, Dai Huynh.

“Ciao Bello,” she writes, “is a principal player in incorporating Italian bitters and liqueurs to lend complexity to drinks. A play on a classic, its Antica Manhattan is chilled liquid jazz made with Carpano Antica, the Italian king of sweet vermouths with notes of caramel and vanilla and hints of bitterness. Another popular toast at Ciao Bello brunch is amaro, a bittersweet digestif topped with ice-cold soda and an orange twist.”

“‘The Italians have been doing this for centuries,’ said general manager and partner Scott Sulma, “and now amaro is starting to be popular with mixologists and sommeliers.” Aromatically complex, amaro is made by aging and infusing sweetened grape brandy with fragrant herbs, flowers, citrus peel, spices and aromatic bark.”

“Another refreshing cocktail is the Sicilian 75, instead of French 75. Here, Sulma married gin, prosecco and Solerno, a liqueur made with native Sicilian sanguinello blood oranges picked at the peak of ripeness.”